Troye Sivan, our Volume I cover star, is an out-and-proud musician who has forged a brave path for himself via his music and social media. A lot of Troye’s mission is, as he put it in the story, “to give the voice that I’ve been given to somebody who maybe wouldn’t have had that voice otherwise.” As you can tell from his social media and from the causes he devotes himself to, Troye is a man of his word, and this video demonstrates exactly that.

Homelessness can be a difficult thing to address, because it’s often way more complex than people really think. When the Ali Forney Center was founded in 2002, it filled a much-needed void in New York’s homeless housing program by directly addressing the urgent needs of LGBTQ Youth. It’s been estimated that up to 40% of homeless youth in New York identify as LGBTQ, and many of those kids find it difficult to access resources, specifically because of the institutional discrimination against the various intersections of identity in the queer population. According to AFC, "LGBTQ street youth experience greater levels of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking violence, trauma, HIV infection, mental health issues, and substance abuse than their heterosexual counterparts.”

Troye went with us to visit the Ali Forney Center, where he got to talk to three amazing young people in their youth ambassador program. Here, we learn about their stories, and what we can all do to get involved.